Pinnacle and Ace, thank you for the pictures. You both did great!
Let me introduce these images for anyone who didn't make it this year, the convention and expo were held at the Pittsburgh Convention Center, right at the edge of the Ohio River. There was an upper-level, glass-walled hamster-tube walkway that went right through and over top of the Expo hall floor. That's how we got these 'looking down on' shots.
It's the first convention center I've see whose roof incorporates skylights designed to let in natural light. The roof, where there are no skylights, is covered in photovoltaic panels that actively generate electricity that by equivalence, could power 1,800 homes. They have expansive areas on the second level where you can step outside and instead of concrete, you can walk around on well-maintained LAWN. Yes, they had lawn on the outdoor walking areas and the rain runoff from the roof is collected and percolated through these grass beds before being released to groundwater runoff. There were clearly marked recycling bins throughout both the convention center and the adjacent Westin Hotel. Personally, I found this notable and it enhanced my overall experience that big corporate entities like a hotel/convention center can be responsible leaders in the green revolution. Very appropriate for a green industry such as ours.
I'm gonna try something. I'm going to take Pinnacle's two and Ace's three images, make them all 10" wide to fill the page on your computer screen, then place them one after another, all five of them.
Scroll down slowly. You'll see Stihl, and Husqvarna, Redmax, Echo, Jonsered, Toro. The Japanese came in to represent Silky. You'll see cranes, crane trucks, arborist trucks and an explosion of mini-lifts; 90 footers, 120 footers, all there under one roof. We had all the chipper manufacturers, each displaying their lineup of chippers and stump grinders. Altec, Conehead, Morbark, Vermeer, Bandit. I ate lunch with the president of Bandit Industries, not every day you get to do that. I was honored to have bought dinner for the Michigan State Women's Tree Climbing Champion.
All our catalog suppliers were there; Bailey's, with Jerry Beranek there in person, Sherrill, with Tobe out there mixing it up with all the Arborists. Karl Keummerling, Cutter's Choice, American Arborist Supply, and there were more. Then we had the rope manufacturers; Sampson, New England, All-Gear, all there, in person to talk to and discuss the stuff they make, that we hang our lives on.
And our hardware suppliers. Greg Good, developer of the GRCS was there, Petzl had a huge booth, ISC was there, Klein, Jameson, Buckingham; dudes, I could go on and on. The TCIA website has a complete listing of all the vendors who were there for
one reason; to cater to our market.
This is what TCIA is: They are a business with the role of providing OUR TREE CARE INDUSTRY the leadership and resources
we need to be a professional, legitimate and respected industry. At the TCIA Expo, they pull together our profession with our industry suppliers and heavy emphasis on education so we can spend a few golden days to facilitate becoming the best Arborists we can possibly be. If
that's not good support and leadership, I don't know what is.
The weather was great. Pittsburgh was an excellent city to host our annual convention.
